Thought #1:
My first memory of DL is from when I was 6 years old. We drove down from Oregon in the scorching August heat, in our air conditioning-less Subaru. The whole way down, we listened to a particular cassette tape over and over. When we arrived in the middle of the night, my mom woke me up with an excitement in her voice that I had never heard before - I sat up and looked out the window, and there was the huge Disneyland sign glistening in the night! I didn't even know what it meant, but I felt happier and more excited than I ever had before in my life.
That sign is gone now, but I still feel the same wonder and excitement every time we take the Harbor Blvd exit and I see the Matterhorn...or Space Mountain...or the Tower of Terror.
What is most special about this memory though is the fact that my family still has the same cassette that we listened to on that road trip. And every time we pull it out and play it, both of my parents get that happy glow on their face. I never, EVER see that look any other time. But that music triggers the Disney Magic, and it's one of the only times my parents don't act like I'm nuts for being so obsessed. Which, for the record, means the WORLD to me.
